Class BX M^ 6 
Book. ,S^W*fc 



MEMOIR 

mm 

OF 

JONATHAN SAVILLE; 

OF HALIFAX, ENG. 

INCLUDING HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



BY FRANCIS A. WEST. 

it 



FROM THE LONDON EDITION. 




For the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
'at the Conference Office, 200 Mulberry-street. 

J. Collord, Printer. 
1845. 



PREFACE. 



One of our preachers, while on a visit to England, met with 
a copy of this interesting little book, and, having been deeply 
affected in its perusal, forwarded it to us ; giving his opinion, 
that, if republished, it would be exceedingly popular and 
useful among the young people of our sabbath schools, as 
well as among persons of riper years ; an opinion in which, 
we doubt not, every reader will concur. 

The compiler of the work, who is an eminent minister in 
the British Conference, says : "It was thought fitting that a 
memorial should be raised for Jonathan Saville, by which the 
church might glorify God in him. The following sketch of 
his life is partly his own story, as taken down from his lips 
about seven years before his death, by a respected clergyman, 
formerly resident in Halifax ; and partly has been gathered 
among his friends in Halifax, and other parts of Yorkshire." 
In preparing it for republication, we have divided the nar- 
rative into chapters, and occasionally altered or explained a 
word, or phrase, which it was thought might not be intelligible 
to our readers. 

The history of Jonathan Saville furnishes a striking instance 
of the divine method of procedure, in often choosing "the 
weak things of this world" to be notable instruments in further- 
ing the work of his grace, " that the excellency of the power" 
may be seen and acknowledged to be "of God, and not of 
man." Not many persons have engaged in their Master's 
work under circumstances of so much apparent disadvantage 
and discouragement as the subject of this Memoir ; yet w« 



4 



PERFACE* 



question whetner many learned divines will not be found? 
" in that day," to have fewer " stars in the crown of their 
rejoicing." 

But while we peruse the relation of Jonathan's labours and 
usefulness, and " glorify God in his behalf," we should also 
remember that there is a practical lesson to be learned from 
it. Although it was an obscure and humble, it was not a 
" slothful servant" upon whom God put this honour : he was 
" instant in season and out of season," — faithful, zealous, and 
persevering in the use of the "talent" with which his Lord 
had intrusted him. How many professors are there (labourers 
we cannot call them) who, though far more favourably cir- 
cumstanced than he was, " stand all the day idle " in their 
Lord's vineyard, excusing their indolence on the plea that 
they have but little ability and few opportunities for useful- 
ness ! Let all such consider the example that is here set 
before them, and " go and do likewise." " The children of 
this world are wiser in their generation " than these " children 
of light :" the man who engages in business, with but small 
means, instead of regarding this as a ground for inactivity, 
rather strives by greater assiduity to make up for his want of 
capital. Let us, then, if we have but " one talent," instead 
of "hiding it in the earth," only be the more diligent in im- 
proving it, that we may be able to give a good " account of 
our stewardship" to Him who hath said, "Occupy till I 
come," and may hear from his lips the approving sentence, 
" Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord." S.B.Wickbns. 
New-York, August, 1844. 



MEMOIRS 

OF 

JONATHAN SAVILLE. 

CHAPTER I. 

JONATHAN'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. 

I was born on the 9th day of December, in 
the year of our Lord 1759, at Great Horton 
Bank-Top, in the parish of Bradford. My 
father was a religious, good man, a member 
of the Calvinist congregation at Kipping, 
near Thornton. He was a delver by trade. 
He was killed by a mass of earth falling on 
him while baring [laying bare the bed of 
stone by removing the upper strata] in a 
quarry at Little Horton. He used often to 
retire into a bam to pray. His custom was 
to pray aloud. A young woman going into 
the barn on one of these occasions heard 
him, and was convinced of sin under his 



6 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



prayer. My mother was a Moravian. I was 
three years and a half old when she died. I 
can remember the litter coming for her, when 
I sat and cried till they came back from the 
funeral. Until I was seven years old I lived 
partly with my father and grandmother, and 
partly in Horton workhouse. I -was then 
bound apprentice to a man whose name I do 
not wish to make known, as some of the 
family are yet living. He turned me over to 
the colliers in Denholme ; on which my father 
said to him, " I had rather you'd tied a stone 
round his neck, and drowned him." I was a 
fine growing active lad at that time. I saw 
some cripples in the house of my new mas- 
ter, and the thought came across me that I 
was to share the same fate with them. At 
first I was taught to spin worsted ; but it was 
not long before I was taken to the coal-pit. 
I had to go at six in the morning, and did not 
return home till six in the evening. The 
hardships I endured were very great. After 
working hard all day, I had to go two or 
three miles with the picks [mason's tools] to 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



7 



sharpen, or to spin at home till bed-time. 
One evening, on returning home after having 
wrought in the pit all day, I was so exhaust- 
ed, that my feet stuck fast in a piece of 
swampy ground, and I was too faint and 
weak to free myself. A young man kindly 
helped me out, and assisted me home. My 
master flew into a passion, and said, "I'll 
make him spin four hanks before he goes to 
bed for it." Whereupon the other said, " If 
you do not give the poor thing some supper, 
and let him off to bed, I'll have you before 
your betters." I had forgotten this circum- 
stance, when, going over Swill-hill with 
James Ash worth, about four years since, 
who should come to me but this same man. 
He was working in a stone quarry there, 
and he reminded me of this fact of my 
young days. 

When I was taken from the pit I was more 
dead than alive : my strength was quite gone, 
and my soul was sick within me. I went 
no more to the pit, but was employed in 
spinning at home. One day (it was when 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



I was about ten years old) I was sitting 
upon a low stool in the passage of the 
house, spinning. It was a very cold day, 
and I went to the fire to warm myself. One 
of my master's daughters came, and pushed 
me roughly away from the fire. I fell with 
my thigh under me, and it was broken. I 
crawled into a room, and lay down on the 
bed. When my master came home they told 
him, " Jonathan has turned sulky, and has 
gone and laid him down in bed." He came 
to me, and said that if I did not get up and 
spin, he would knock my brains out. I tum- 
bled off the bed as well as I could, and sup- 
ported myself by a chair; my thigh bent 
under me, and I fell to the ground. He took, 
or rather dragged me, and forced me down 
upon the low stool in the passage, and made 
me spin for the rest of the day. No doctor 
was ever called in to set my thigh ; nor did 
any of the women show me any compassion. 
My moanings were laughed at, and they ridi- 
culed me in my sufferings. I used to go to 
sleep at night, holding the bone in its place 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



9 



with my hand as well as I could. In this 
condition I remained between three and four 
years. I was nearly grown double, and when- 
ever I had to go out of doors I was obliged 
to creep. At length my master, wishing to 
get rid of me, applied to the Thornton over- 
seers, who told him to send me to Hor- 
ton workhouse. The Horton and Thornton 
overseers came to see what condition I was 
in. They said they thought I should not live 
a month ; but if I did, I was to come to the 
workhouse. I survived the month ; and never 
did prince long so much for his crown as I 
did to get there. My master set out for the 
workhouse with me on his back, my broken 
leg dangling like a dead hare. We overtook 
a lad, to whom my master offered sixpence 
to carry me as far as Queen's Head. There 
I was put into a cart which was going down 
to Horton. The shaking of the cart made me 
scream for agony. The lad seeing this, got 
in, and held me on his knee till we got to 
the workhouse. (I was preaching a Sunday- 
school sermon some years ago at Wibsey, 



10 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



and while relating all my sufferings, and this 
circumstance among the rest, of the lad hold- 
ing me on his knee, some one in the congre- 
gation called out, "He's here in the chapel." 
After service the man came to me, and we 
had a hearty shake of the hand.) When we 
got to the workhouse they set me down on 
the floor; and no sooner was it told about 
the house that little Jonathan was come 
back, than all the old women left their spin- 
ning, and came to see me. I believe if my 
master had not got out of the way, they 
would have done him an injury. 

The master of the workhouse took great 
care of me. When I had been there about a 
quarter of a year I asked him if he would get 
me a little wheel, and I would try and spin. 
He did so, and said, in a kind way, " Thou 
shalt spin two hanks a day ; and what thou 
canst over that, thou shalt have for thyself." 
There I sat and spun. I could not carry my 
hand round the wheel for weakness and pain, 
but used to give it a push. The master had 
me bathed in a large tub of water three or 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



11 



four times a week. This did me a great 
deal of good, and I felt my limbs growing 
stronger. An old man in the house, seeing 
my improvement, said, "We must have thee 
raised up, Jonathan ; thou shalt not have to 
sit in a corner all thy days." He made me a 
pair of little crutches. I remember there was 
an old woman in the house who went upon 
crutches too. The master on seeing us both 
come halting in to dinner together one day, 
said, " Alice, Jonathan will beat you soon." 
That master died from over-exertion in the 
hay-field. His successor, a Quaker, took a 
great liking to me, which he showed by many 
acts of kindness. There was an old pen- 
sioner in the house who had lost the use of 
one side. The master said to him, " John, 
I'll give thee a pint of beer to thy drinking, 
if thou wilt teach these lads I have in the 
workhouse to read." And I well remember 
my creeping between the old man's shaking 
knees to say my lesson to him. Within a 
year I became a tolerable reader in the Bible. 
There was a spring at the bottom of a field 



12 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



near the workhouse, and there the master 
made a dam for me to bathe in. He would 
say, "Now, Jonathan, thou canst be toddling 
down, and when thou gets to the spring I 
shall see, and I'll come and undress thee." 
I could not undress myself ; so he did, and 
ducked me over head two or three times, 
and then dressed me. He would often bring 
with him a gill of beer, and some oat-cake, 
and say, " Now sup thy beer, lad, and come 
home when thou wilt." Thus, having a good 
constitution, I gradually recovered strength ; 
but when I was fourteen years of age I be- 
lieve I was less in stature than I was at seven. 
I used to go down to the Methodist chapel 
sometimes on a Sunday; and the people, as 
they passed me in the street, would pat me 
on the head, and say, "Poor Jonathan! his 
father's prayers will be heard for him yet ;" 
and one and another would give me a penny; 
which, joined to my over-earnings at spin- 
ning, served me for school wages. I went 
to a night school to learn a little writing and 
arithmetic. As the Unitarian chapel was 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



13 



the nearest to the workhouse, we lads were 
sent there, and were kindly noticed by the 
minister. One day the Quaker met him, and 
asked him for a Bible for each of us : so I 
got a Bible of my own. 

I remember about this time [1774] hear- 
ing Mr. William Brammah in the Methodist 
chapel. I stood on my crutches all the while. 
I had a cruise among my relations for about 
five or six months, and then returned to the 
workhouse. There had been another change 
of overseers. In the house there were three 
lads of us, of whom I was the least, spinning 
in the room. The new overseer came in, and 
looked at us. On going home he said to his 
wife, "Deborah, there are three lads yonder 
in the workhouse likely to be fixtures : what 
think'st thou if we learn one of them to warp ?" 
She said, "I'll have none but little Saville : 
his father has prayed scores of times in this 
house." So he sent his daughter over to the 
workhouse for me. When I had been about 
a year at John Murgatroyd's there came an- 
other overseer, and I went to live with him. 



14 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



I lived with him about four years ; when some 
little matter that I did not like made me wish- 
ful to leave him. 

[An anecdote is told of Jonathan respect- 
ing his residence at the workhouse, which 
may here be given. There was in the house 
an old and blind man who had long wished 
to attend the church at Bradford; but his 
blindness and poverty prevented. Jonathan, 
being now satisfied that he could manage the 
journey, cheerfully volunteered his services 
to the poor old man. Accordingly, on the 
next sabbath-day (for the arrival of which 
they had looked with anxious and longing 
hearts) they both left the workhouse at an 
early hour, and trudged away to church,— 
" the halt leading the blind." This practice 
they continued sabbath after sabbath ; and it 
was an affecting sight, which often attracted 
the gaze of the passers-by, the youthful crip- 
ple getting along as he was able upon his 
crutches, and the blind man, with one hand on 
little Jonathan's shoulder, while in the other he 
grasped a staff to support his tottering steps. 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



15 



We cannot refuse here to pause, and ad- 
mire the paternal care of divine Providence 
over this orphan child. Indeed, who that has 
observed Providence at all as illustrative of 
the faithful word of God, that has not admired 
its remarkable interpositions in behalf of the 
widow and the orphan. More exposed than 
others to the wrongs of the oppressor, and 
having greater difficulties in the world, they 
have peculiar claims ; and by various means 
God shows that they are the objects of a pe- 
culiar care. "Leave thy fatherless children; 
I will preserve them alive ; and let thy wi- 
dows trust in me." Who could have expected 
that such a child as poor Jonathan, at ten 
years of age, suffering under the brutal treat- 
ment of that fiend in human form, with a 
broken thigh, never set, and never attended 
to for months after the fracture, should have 
been able to survive and live to manhood? 
Look at him as he lay upon the floor, trem- 
bling lest further violence should be com- 
mitted by a woman ! and see him sitting on 
a cold stone in the open passage of a house, 



16 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



on a bleak winter's day, and what hope is 
there but in the promise which pledges the 
effectual mercy of Providence, — "I will pre- 
serve them alive?" The remembrance of 
God's mercy was ever before him and others , 
He halted upon his thigh, and became a very 
little man : but even his afflictions were over- 
ruled of God ; for when he afterward became 
a Christian, and occupied the pulpit, the plat- 
form, and the Sunday-school desk, his very 
appearance always secured attention and ex- 
cited interest ; for the story of his sufferings 
seemed to travel with him. His diminutive 
stature always attracted the notice of chil- 
dren, and no doubt gave an interest to his 
appearance and advice : they were always 
pleased with " Little Jonathan;" and the dis- 
cipline of his early sorrows prepared him to 
take an interest in their little cares and 
childish troubles. We return in to the 
narrative.] 

I was going to Bradford with pieces to 
sell, when I met Mr. John Swaine, of Cross 
Hill, Halifax. He knew me, and said, " Jona- 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



17 



than, are you your own master?" I said, 
" Any day, sir." So he engaged me to be- 
come a warper at Cross HilL 

It was on the 6th of November, 1782, 
when I first came to live at Halifax. I knew 
no one except a woman who worked at Mr. 
Swaine's : she was the widow of the first 
master of Horton workhouse, of whom I 
have made mention. Having lived about 
half a year with Mr, S., from whom I met 
with uniform kindness, I went to live with 
his brother-in-law at Lightcliffe, but only for 
about half a year, when Mr. S. saw me, and 
asked me to come back. I was in their em- 
ploy about twenty years. 

[With the exception of a short interval, he 
lived from this time in Halifax, and during 
the whole period maintained the character 
of unimpeachable fidelity. The following 
anecdote B will show the boldness and aptness 
of his i$iad: — When he was received into 
Mr. Swaine's workshop, he was placed in a 
situation which one of the workmen hoped 
would have been given to his daughter. The 
2 



18 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



man took offence, and envy and hatred prompt- 
ed him to take every opportunity of accusing 
Jonathan to his master, with the hope of ob- 
taining his dismission. One day in particular, 
the man having been unusually peevish with 
Jonathan, and feeling persuaded he had found 
out some deficiency, which, if properly worked 
up and represented to Mr. Swaine, would pro- 
cure the new warper's discharge, he went into 
an adjoining room to the master. Jonathan was 
aware of his errand ; and during his absence, 
taking a piece of red chalk from his pocket, 
he wrote in legible characters on the wall, 
" Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest 
he curse thee, and thou be found guilty." 
When the man returned and saw the inscrip- 
tion he blushed, and went quietly to his work ; 
and never after that was he found guilty of 
such conduct. Mr. Swaine shortly after came 
into the room, and saw the writing ; and it is 
needless to observe that Jonathan rose still 
higher in his estimation.] 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



19 



CHAPTER II. 

JONATHAN'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF— ^-CONTINUED. 

In 1785, being then in my twenty-sixth year, 
I married Mary Milnes. 

During the four years that I lived at Lit- 
tle Horton and Thornton, I had frequently to 
go round to the different hamlets to collect 
the work that had been put out ; and though 
I had many opportunities of purloining, hav- 
ing sometimes to bring home as much as 
£50 [about $240] worth, yet I never wronged 
my master of a penny. And for this I desire 
to bless the preventing grace of God. I felt 
the thought of it a great comfort to me after 
my conversion. 

As I had gone to Bradford Methodist cha- 
pel both on my crutches and after I had got 
upon my feet, so when I came to Halifax I 
attended the Methodist chapel there. Often 
do I remember hiding my face to hinder peo- 
ple from seeing my tears under the sermon. 
Yet it was not till New- Year's day, 1784, 



20 



JONATHAN SAVILLE* 



when Mr. Benson was presiding at the re- 
newal of the covenant, that I was fully con- 
vinced of the necessity of a change of heart. 
I had slipped into the chapel by stealth, and 
got into a corner. When he called on all 
those who were determined to be on the 
Lord's side to hold up their hands, I said to 
myself, "Now, or never !" Mr. Benson gave 
notice that a love-feast would be held the day 
following in Sowerby-street. I set out to go ; 
but not knowing the road, and being directed 
wrong, I missed my way. It was snowing 
and blowing furiously at the time ; so I turned 
back. I continued, however, in prayer and 
attendance on the means of grace, when a 
revival broke out in Halifax. I attended the 
meetings, and one and another asked me to 
go to their class ; but as I wished to go to one 
in which there were not many new converts, 
I made choice of Mr. Robert Emmett's. 
Through a constant hearing of the word I 
had gained some knowledge of the way of 
salvation. There is not one of all my first 
class-mates living, I believe. I saw many 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



21 



things in the working of this revival which I 
did not approve ; as, the young converts pre- 
ferring to assemble at meetings, instead of 
quietly reading and meditating at home in 
their closets : — then there wanted more judg- 
ment in the placing of young beginners in 
suitable classes ; and those of them who had 
not had the advantage of living in praying 
families, and in consequence were not so 
fluent in prayer, were not sufficiently taken 
by the hand ; while those who had praying 
parents were like little orators, and these 
were more looked upon and brought forward. 

[Some further particulars have been glean- 
ed respecting his conversion which may be 
given here. In the year 1783 Mr. Benson 
and Mr. Dufton were appointed to the Brad- 
ford circuit, and Halifax was then included 
in that circuit. Under Mr. Dufton, Jonathan 
was very deeply impressed ; his early con- 
victions revived, and he resolved to forsake 
his evil ways. He continued to attend the 
chapel ; and a sermon by Mr. Benson on the 
words, " Thou art weighed in the balances, 



22 JONATHAN SAVILLE. 

and art found wanting," was the means of 
more deeply awakening his soul. He felt 
himself to be a lost sinner, having no room 
for hope in himself. While seeking pardon- 
ing mercy and renewing grace, he was in- 
duced to become a member of the Methodist 
Society, as stated above, by joining himself 
to a class of which Mr. Robert Emmett was 
leader. He was often known in after life, 
and indeed generally about that time of the 
year when he was an earnest seeker of sal- 
vation, to go into the very room in which the 
class met, and place himself behind the door, 
observing, " I can never forget that here I 
once sat in perfect misery, a condemned cri- 
minal." For a season he drank deep of the 
wormwood and the gall ; and after manifest- 
ing the genuineness of his sorrow by for- 
saking his sins, the day of mercy dawned 
upon him ; and under a sermon, preached 
also by Mr. Benson, he obtained peace with 
God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Jonathan now became a new man ; he was 
renewed in the spirit of his mind, and became 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



23 



as anxious to be the instrument of saving 
souls from death, as formerly, by his levity 
and wantonness, he had wickedly diverted 
many from giving heed to the things belong- 
ing to their peace.] 

I continued fourteen years in Mr. Em- 
mett's class, and then Mr. Thomas Taylor 
made me a leader. I met my first class in 
King-Cross-lane. After a time I had two, 
and sometimes three, classes on my hands. 
My original class has swarmed upward of 
six times : their new leaders, many of them, 
were my pupils, as I may call them. I have 
known many young lads who had taken plea- 
sure in annoying and disturbing me, playing 
tricks, fastening me in my house, &c, when 
they were convinced, come to my class, and 
some of them are now leaders. I do not ap- 
prove of good nature having to toil with forty 
persons* in one class. I was always willing 
to have my classes divided when they became 
too heavy. 

About this time a thought struck my mind. 
I said, we ought to take the destitute state of 



24: 



JONATHAN SAVXLLK, 



the country round Halifax into consideration. 
There was then no chapel at Soutbowram, 
Ovenden, Blaekmires, Sowerby, Sowerby 
Bridge, Ripponden, Mill-Bank, Elland, Brig- 
house, Clayton-Heights, or Luddenden ; and 
the people were scattered about in the val- 
leys and on the hill sides, far from a church, 
and in a state of spiritual darkness little bet- 
ter than that of the heathen. So Joseph 
Thompson, William Normington, James Far- 
rar, and I, agreed to devote ourselves on Sun- 
days and the evenings of the week to these 
places. We held prayer meetings, sometimes 
as many as seven or eight on a Sunday. The 
country people called us " recruiting Ser- 
jeants." 

I remember once as we were passing by a 
pond where now Clayton-Heights chapel 
stands, a lad who was sliding on the ice (it 
was in winter time) began calling us ill 
names. Presently he got a most severe fall 
on the ice. He thought this a judgment upon 
him for having spoken against us ; so he fol- 
lowed us to the house at which we were to 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



25 



hold the meeting, resolving to get as near as 
possible to the " little man." He afterward 
became a member of our society ; and about 
four years ago, when I was preaching at Great 
Horton, he came to me, and told me this in- 
cident. 

At Luddenden there was an idiot who was 
delighted to attend our meetings. I used to 
give him a penny now and then, and he al- 
ways went round to tell the neighbours when 
there was going to be a meeting. And he 
did his work well, for he invited both rich 
and poor. When our campaign at South- 
owram opened, there was not a single mem- 
ber in the whole village. At first we were 
greatly annoyed by the young men, and one 
of us had to stand sentinel while the other 
was praying. " We will have at you," said 
I, " on the week-days." So we went up on 
Wednesday night, and by the blessing of God 
great success attended us. 

I was with Mr. Goodwin when he joined 
twenty-two members at one time. This was 
the first class formed at Southowram. At 



26 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



Luddenden, in 1799-1801, the revival was 
at its height. One night I got Mr. Emmett 
and James Hellewell to go with me. I had 
noticed a little moving among the dry bones 
before. We began the meeting. I gave an 
exhortation. There was a sailor present, 
who was a backslider. He had crept into a 
corner, and sat as if he were afraid of a press- 
gang. From that night the fire broke out; 
and it was just as when the whins [furze or 
bushes] on a common are set on fire ; — it 
blazed gloriously ; and in half a year after 
Mr. Kirkpatrick joined fifty-four members in 
one night. Now they have three chapels in 
the neighbourhood, and many local preachers. 

About this time I was exhorting at Midg- 
ley (for we sought out all corners) from these 
words, " The great day of his wrath is come." 
There were two lads breaking the sabbath, 
sitting under a hedge half a mile off. The 
word reached them, and they were struck to 
the heart. One of them, known in the neigh- 
bourhood by the name of "tumbling Joe," 
became afterward a local preacher. I meet 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



27 



with many who were children in those days 
who remember me. I was going down Meth- 
ley once, where I was to attend a missionary 
meeting, when a woman called me into her 
house, and said, " Isn't it Jonathan ?" I said, 
" Yes." She said, " Bless you, come in. I 
remember you when you used to come to my 
grandmother's at Southowram to hold prayer 
meetings ;" and we rejoiced together. Mr. 
Robert Emmett used to superintend the 
prayer leaders. There were twelve sets of 
us. Our range was this : — Salter-Hebble, 
Skircoat-green, Washer-lane, Pellon, Wheat- 
ley, Ovenden,Pulneck, High-road Well, Hip- 
perholme,Marsh-delves, Southowram. When 
we began there were not persons in one of 
these places, except Skircoat-green, that could 
carry on a prayer meeting by themselves. At 
this time I worked at Copley Mill, and was 
respected by my employer ; but I remember 
I used to be greatly annoyed by S. B., J. D., 
and others my work-fellows, coming into the 
room where I was at work, and reviling me 
on account of my religion. 



28 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



A revival broke out at this time : (July, 
1793 :) I used to go, after I had finished my 
work for the day, sometimes as far as Lind- 
ley, and all round, to prayer meetings, and 
would come home at midnight, sleep in the 
wool in the mill, then up in the morning to 
my work, and off again at night, as before, to 
some other place. When the revival broke 
out at Skircoat, James Hellewell asked Mr. 
Lomas to tea. After tea, as James's son and 
I were following the other two to the preach- 
ing, the lad said, " Jonathan, what kind of a 
sermon shall we have to-night ?" I said, " I 
believe we shall have none." "How so?" 
said he. I answered, "I believe the Spirit 
will break in upon us ;" and so it happened. 
Mr. Lomas, while engaged in prayer, felt 
the Holy Spirit so powerfully upon him, that 
he continued upward of twenty minutes in 
prayer, until he fell exhausted into James 
Helle well's arms. The whole place rang 
with cries for mercy. Mr. L. said, as he 
lay there, " Lord, I was going to take for 
my text, 1 Now is the accepted time ;' but 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



29 



thou hast taken it into thine own hands." 
Many were set at liberty that night. It was 
a great blessing that the young converts had 
a leader of so much judgment and piety ap- 
pointed over them as James Hellewell. One 
of these nights I speak of there was a chapel- 
ful assembled at Greetland, and they put me 
on a table to pray. Had they not done so, I 
believe I should have been smothered on ac- 
count of the press and my small stature. As 
I was praying, the power of God came among 
us, and many found mercy. The very men 
who had formerly persecuted me at Copley 
Mill, now came to me like children to be in- 
structed. Some of them afterward became 
acceptable and useful local preachers. 

After a little while the Kilhamites' divi- 
sion took place, which did great damage at 
Greetland, owing, I think, to the fact of some 
of the inexperienced converts having been 
made leaders. I was at the Leeds confer- 
ence when Kilham revolted. Going down 
Boar-lane I met Mr. Christopher Hopper, 
who said, " Well, Jonathan, they say they 



30 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



will have Greetland chapel ; but they never 
shall while Kitty has a foot in it." I have 
seen many a division since then ; but I never 
had the least inclination to join the seceders. 
I was convinced under the instrumentality 
of the old connection, and to them I owe, 
under God, my conversion. Although I was 
often asked to leave them, I never would 
consent. I believe that however the body 
may be assailed by selfish or ambitious men, 
yet it will never be dissolved so long as it 
maintains its doctrines in their purity, and 
enforces its discipline with impartiality. And 
with respect to the preachers, I have lived 
upward of forty years almost next door to 
them, only the chapel between us, and have 
had many opportunities of becoming inti- 
mately acquainted with them ; and I can truly 
say that there is not one of them for whose 
return among us I would not freely hold up 
my hand. 

About the latter end of the year 1803 I 
went up to Southowram, to Freeman's-fold 
End, near Chapel-a-briers, to hold a prayer 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



31 



meeting in the place of one who should have 
preached there. The house was filled. A 
leader came up to me, and said, " Now you 
must preach to us." I said, "I never took 
a text in my life." But he said, " Then you 
must try" So, after much hesitation, and 
under great trembling, I got up, and took my 
text, Job xiv, 1 . After I had done I said to 
myself, " Farewell to preaching !" On the 
Sunday after the same leader came to me as 
I was coming out of Halifax chapel, and said, 
" Go on, Jonathan, there was one awakened 
under your last Sunday's sermon." One day 
a little after this Mr. Gaulter came into my 
house, and said to me, "Jonathan, I want 
you to go and supply my place at High-road 
Well to-night." I demurred, but at last I 
went, for he was my superintendent. He 
came in afterward, and said, " I will put your 
name on the plan." I told him I hoped he 
would not. At last it was agreed that he 
should put a little S in the place where I 
was planned. I told him it was not to be 
expected that a man of forty-four years of 



32 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



age, who had had no education, would make 
much improvement. But he overruled all my 
objections, and I became a local preacher. 

I have often gone to Heptonstall, and 
preached twice, and come home the same 
day, on foot, sometimes in the depth of win- 
ter, when it was snowing and blowing hard. 
Once I had to go and preach for Mr. Robert 
Emmett at Barnsley. As I was going I said 
to myself, "What art thou going to do? they 
will never receive thy blundering preaching." 
But the Lord raised up a standard against 
Satan, and strengthened me; and I preached 
three times that day, the 18th of June, 1815. 
I remember praying for our army, for it was 
expegted they would be somewhere near a 
battle. [This was the day on which the bat- 
tle of Waterloo was fought.] At the time 
of the riots, (1812-13,) when the mob took 
to breaking machinery, I preached one Sun- 
day to the largest congregation that ever 
assembled in Halifax chapel. A young man 
had been shot while assisting to make an en- 
try into a mill near Cleckheaton, for the pur- 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 33 

pose of breaking machinery; and he was 
brought to Halifax chapel to be buried. On 
the Sunday after the funeral the people came 
from far and wide to show their sorrow for 
the deceased, [or rather to make a political 
demonstration.] They filled the chapel to 
overflowing : hundreds stood on the outside, 
unable to get in, and constables walked be- 
fore the doors to keep the peace. The 
preacher who was planned for that afternoon 
had gone to Huddersfield, probably to get 
out of the way. Mr. Jabez Bunting sent for 
me. When I got into the pulpit, and looked 
round, I felt faint. It was the first time that 
ever I felt my right thigh weaker than the 
other : it trembled as if I had an ague. My 
tongue for a long time clave to the roof of my 
mouth. Mr. Bunting was in the chapel. Af- 
ter the singing I felt loosed in spirit, and took 
for my text my favourite, " The Lord is my 
Shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me 
to lie down in green pastures," &c. Toward 
the end I had occasion to speak of the Chris- 
tian's confidence in a dying hour, and I con- 
3 



34 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



trasted the death of the believer with that of 
the infidel. At that time, perhaps more than 
ever, infidelity was busy among the lower 
classes. I said, "When the tried Christian 
has been toiling on the ocean of life, he comes 
at last to the harbour's mouth, and angels are 
standing on the shore to welcome him home. 
But the infidel, as he comes in, sees devils 
waiting for him, and he cries, ' Tack about, 
tack about !' but no, in he must go," and so 
on. Then I exclaimed, " Infidel, die hard ! 
never strike the black flag when death con- 
fronts you !" It seemed to have a great 
effect. A few days afterward, as I was going 
up King-Cross-lane to my class, some per- 
sons threw stones at me, but I was not hurt. 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 35 

CHAPTER III. 

JONATHAN'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF CONCLUDED. 

Not long after Great Horton chapel was 
opened I was sent for to preach there. The 
chapel was crowded. When I got up into 
the pulpit I could not help looking back to 
the days of my boyhood, when I saw myself 
walking on crutches, a miserable cripple, 
upon the very green near which the chapel 
stood. I felt my heart to overflow with gra- 
titude to God for his gracious providence. 
I said to the congregation, " If I had a word 
that would do your souls good, I would give 
it you, though it should cost me my life. For 
I owe my life to you, through the mercy of 

God If you want to know where I got 

my education, — where my college w T as, — it 
was the workhouse yonder ; (pointing to the 
workhouse near;) there it was that I received 
all my education, between the knees of an 
old pensioner." It was encouraging to me 
to learn afterward that the daughter of the 



36 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



overseer was awakened under the sermon. 
She is now gone to heaven. 

About six years since I preached a mis- 
sionary sermon at Denholme one Sunday 
night ; and after service some one said to 
me, " Jonathan, you must go in the morning 
and see a sick woman." I said, " Where 
does she live ?" They answered, " About 
half a mile off." In the morning I went with 
them, and when I got into the house I was 
taken with a fit of musing. I stood still on 
the house-floor, and looked on the hearth a 
long and fixed look. The woman seeing me 
thus stand and muse without speaking, said, 
" Did you once live here ?" As I was stand- 
ing there I gave a look back, and inwardly 
exclaimed, "What has God done for poor 
me !" and then I thought of my three or four 
years of suffering in that very house ; for 
there it was that my thigh was broken ; and 
I said, " Is it possible that the Lord should 
have brought me to pray with that woman !" 
I knelt down beside her, and prayed with 
heart and eyes overflowing with gratitude to 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



37 



God. An old man, upward of fourscore, 
who had lately been converted to God, came 
in just then ; and while I was praying the 
poor woman rose up in her bed, and wheel- 
ing round on her knees, began praising God 
with all the powers of her voice, exclaiming, 
" The Lord has cured me, both body and 
soul !" I said, " Never heed the body if 
the soul's healed. You'll feel the body 
again :" and I said, "O Lord, now thou hast 
repaid me for all my sufferings in this house !" 
The old man, sitting by the fireside, ex- 
claimed, "Well, I never saw the like in all 
my life !" It would have made a good scene 
for a painter. The old woman sitting, or ra- 
ther kneeling up in bed, and raising her hands 
and voice as high as she could ; the old man, 
with mouth wide open, wondering at the sud- 
den strength and fervour of the woman, as 
if it were a miracle ; and I standing by the 
bedside in ecstasy, and with a face full of joy 
and gratitude. 

After the loss of Dr. Coke almost every- 
body was expressing his fears for the cause 



38 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



of missions. Some young persons, however, 
at Leeds began to collect subscriptions, and 
others also got up a missionary meeting. 
This example was soon followed by the 
friends at Halifax. The first meeting I was 
not able to attend. The missionary flame 
spread. It got to Manchester. But many 
preachers, holy men of God, opposed the 
plan of public meetings with collections. 
"They could not see through it; but they 
were afraid it would hurt the connection." 
But has it done so ? No. There have never 
been those loud outcries about the debts of 
circuits in the district meetings which were 
frequent before missionary meetings were 
started. And I say, moreover, missionary 
meetings have taught the people the art of giv- 
ing. Somebody complained of there being too 
many collections. I said, "They keep our 
hands in." On one occasion Mr. Kirkpa- 
trick took four of the local preachers with 
him, of whom I was one, to a missionary 
meeting. This was the beginning of my 
missionary career. I was afterward invited 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



39 



to attend meetings at Bradford, Keighley, 
Huddersfield, and other neighbouring places, 
I generally studied my speeches out of some 
passage of Scripture, 

I was the worst frightened when they sent 
for me to Hull. Mr. Benson was in the 
chair, and there were many great speakers 
on the platform. I said to myself, "They 
will never bear with me" However, about 
ten minutes before I was called on to speak, 
I got delivered from the fear of Mr. Benson. 
On getting up I said, "I thank God, sir, that 
you are in the chair; for if anybody will have 
patience with children it is parents." Here 
he gave me such a look. I went on : " I was 
awakened under you, sir, in 1784," &c. My 
speech was founded on that parable of our 
Lord, in which the kingdom of heaven is 
likened unto a grain of mustard-seed. I went 
on to say that "I knew this seed when it was 
first sown among us, and I see it now spread- 
ing. There is no climate too hot or too cold 
for it : — where man can live, it can. When- 
ever I enter a town the first thing that I look 



40 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



for is the top branches of the mustard-tree? 
and in some places I see it higher than the 
houses. This seed has now reached the 
East and West Indies, and is thriving there. 
They like the sample we have sent them, 
and they are sending for more from the Me- 
thodist shops. Now, what is it we are met 
here for to-day? It is to devise means of 
sending them some more of this precious 
seed. So we are like to make a good chest 
to send it in, that it may not be spoiled on 
the passage. Let us see then what we can 
do. Let the bottom of the chest be made of 
copper — an inch thick." I looked round at 
the bottom of the chapel, and said, " Now 
take care, and do not stint it : throw in all 
the money you have ; for if the bottom corner 
out, for want of being strong enough, they 
will lay all the blame upon you. It shall be 
lined with eighteen-penny pieces, shillings* 
and sixpences, just as we line kettles, to 
keep the seed from foisting, [fusting, or be^ 
coming mouldy.] The corners shall be twa- 
and-sixpenny pieces ; the lock and key shall 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



41 



be gold. Then our chest will want a direc- 
tion : so a five pound note at the top for a 
flourish, and two or three pound notes on 
each side ; so that, whichever way it goes, 
it will never get to a wrong place, if it get 
where a missionary can inquire about it." 
So I was going on in my way, and just as I 
was getting the missionary chest on board 
ship, Mr. Benson jumped up, and with one 
of his peculiar tones exclaimed, "Come, let 
us make the missionary chest." The collec- 
tion was made immediately, and a most abun- 
dant one it proved. 

The next day Mr. Turton and I crossed 
over to Barton, in Lincolnshire, where we 
had a very good missionary meeting. Mr. 
Benson came there to preach at night ; and 
while we were getting our tea he came into 
the room, which was full of people, and 
taking me by the hand, said, "Well, brother, 
if with all our blundering we have but been 
a means in the hands of God of begetting a 
good desire in one poor sinner's bosom, it's 
worth all our labour." 



42 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



Before leaving the room I said to him, 
" Sir, you will be at Leeds conference ; — if 
you can step over to Halifax, and give us a 
sermon, there will be many of your old friends 
glad to see you." He came, and preached 
from, " By grace are ye saved." That Sun- 
day I was preaching seven miles off, at Fell- 
grove, in the Huddersfield circuit. I preached 
twice, and set out immediately after preach- 
ing, and was just in time to hear him. He 
went down to Mr. Ashworth's, and the poor 
people that had known him when he was in 
the circuit followed him. Into the house 
they flocked, and there was much crying, 
and rejoicing to shake hands with him, and 
he was equally happy among them. Ah ! 
the Methodists set some store by their old 
preachers in those days. They had not then 
got itching ears ; every succeeding sermon 
was thought better than the former from tfie 
same man. The people dearly loved their 
preachers. 

It was when I was at Hull this time that 
I was asked by Mr. Myles to preach in 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



43 



George Yard chapel one Sunday at seven 
A. M. I did so. Some soldiers belonging to 
a regiment quartered in the town were there. 
About a year after, as I was in the prayer 
meeting at Halifax, there came up a fine- 
looking soldier to me, and said, " God bless 
you, sir, my soul was awakened at Hull un- 
der a sermon you preached there at seven 
o'clock in the morning." This circumstance 
greatly encouraged me. 

I was at a missionary meeting at Man- 
chester, when one of the speakers (he was 
one of those who had sailed with Dr. Coke 
for the East Indies) was relating the circum- 
stances of the doctor's death at sea. A per- 
son in the congregation rose up and said, 
"We have had that before." It had, I be- 
lieve, been given in the Missionary Notices. 
When my turn to speak came, I said, " Mr. 
Chairman, it has been said that we have 
heard the account of Dr. Coke's death be- 
fore : — perhaps a thousand of us have heard 
it ; but I would ask, are there not nearly two 
thousand here who have to work hard all the 



44 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



week, many of them in the factories, that 
have not had an opportunity of reading or 
hearing it? And are they to be debarred 
now from hearing it from an eyewitness?.... 
Mr. Chairman, suppose a father had four 
sons to carve for at dinner-time every day, 
and after helping them all, one of them should 
say, 'Father, I cannot eat this, it is too fat P 
must the father say to the other three, 6 Lay 
down your knives and forks till such time as 
your sulky brother comes to his meat?' 
Would this be fair?" The gentleman who 
had called out, came to me afterward when 
at a missionary meeting in Liverpool, and 
frankly acknowledged that he had done 
wrong. This figure of the sulky boy I after- 
ward worked upon, and applied it to the case 
of those who say, "Why send money out of 
the country year by year, and so many mis- 
sionaries to the heathen, when we have hea- 
thens enow at home ?" I said, " True, we 
have heathens at home : but is that because 
we have no Bibles, no churches, no chapels, 
no gospel ministers at home ? No. There 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



45 



is not a man in England but might have a 
knowledge of the blessed truths of the gos- 
pel before he is eighteen years old, if he 
would. And are we to withhold from the 
poor heathens, who are willing to hear, the 
means of grace and salvation, until all the 
sulky sinners in England are converted? 
The poor heathen never send for a great 
preacher : all they want is a missionary ; 
and when he comes among them, they re- 
ceive him, ay, as an angel of God." Mr. 
Kirkpatrick once asked me, " Jonathan, 
where did you get your • sulky boy V- n "I 
got it," said I, " where I find all my speeches, 
behind my spinning-jenny." 

I once went to preach a club sermon at 
Blackshaw-Head. It was before the chapel 
was built. I preached out of doors ; and 
after sermon, while my dinner was being got 
ready, I stepped into a poor woman's house. 
There soon after came in a young man, hold- 
ing out his open hand to me, with two-pence 
in it. I said, "What is it, my lad?" and 
when he continued silently offering me the 



46 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



money, I asked the woman what he meant ? 
She said, " He is deaf and dumb. He has 
seen something in you that he likes : you 
must take it, or he will not be pleased." So 
I took it of him, and away he ran out of the 
house, quite delighted. Presently he returned 
with a basin of broth ; and nothing could sa- 
tisfy him but my eating too. Some time after 
this I was to preach at Mankin-Holes, and 
this poor lad's sister tried hard to make him 
understand as much. She tried many ways, 
but all in vain. At last she bethought her to 
walk across the house-floor, with one arm 
thrown behind, across her back, and in imi- 
tation of my way of walking; at which he 
jumped for joy. He came and sat opposite 
me. After sermon he came to me, throwing 
abroad his hands, his face beaming with joy, 
and tears trickling down his cheeks ; then 
patted his breast, to signify how good the 
sermon had been to him. I said, "Bless 
thee, lad, thou canst feel if thou canst not 
hear" He became a member of the congre- 
gation at Myrtle Grove, near Todmorden. 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



47 



I preached them their club sermon at Black- 
shaw-Head for nine or ten years. One of 
the times I was there I said to them, " It is 
a barren place this, — try and have a chapel. 
Out with your one pound and your five pound 
notes. Some of you can afford to do this, 
I know." Well, by the time I went again 
they had built a chapel, a fine large chapel. 
It was built on the very spot where formerly 
bull-batings were held. They found the ring 
and stake to which the bull used to be tied. 
Mr. Day opened the chapel on a Sunday, 
and I preached in it the day following. 

I was once on a visit for a few days in the 
Newark circuit, when I preached and at- 
tended missionary meetings in various places. 
One of these meetings, I remember, was held 
in a little cottage which our friends had en- 
gaged for preaching. The collection amount- 
ed to upward of two pounds, besides a sack 
of barley which a farmer gave to the cause. 

I attended a juvenile missionary meeting 
at Salford. The first speaker said that the 
seniors did not look upon the juvenile asso- 



48 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



ciation as they ought to do : they seemed to 
consider them as intruders, or as deformed 
children. When I got up, I said, "Who is 
more noticed than a deformed person ? If I 
were passing through the streets of Man- 
chester with a gentleman six feet high, which 
of us, think ye, would be most looked at ? 
Why, they would look at me. Sometimes 
children will stand in the streets, and say, as 
I pass, 6 See, what a little man !' And they 
will call their companions to come and look 
at me. Then I get into the midst of them, 
and ask them questions, such as, ' Whether 
they go to a Sunday school ? whether they 
love God?' and so on. My deformity has 
been the means of my preaching many hun- 
dred sermons in this way to children." At 
the close of my speech I said, " Now, I like 
good singing, and you can sing well at Man- 
chester. I like all four parts going in har- 
mony. Let us see if we cannot sing well 
to-night. Of the four parts, copper shall be 
the tenor ; silver will set the treble ; counter 
will be well sung by gold, sovereigns or half- 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



49 



sovereigns ; and there are some old gentle- 
men here will sing base with their pound 
notes." One of the leading singers near the 
platform was so pleased, that he immediately 
held up a pound note for me to take it of him ; 
and laying it down on the table, I said, " Now, 
then, the base is set and a good collection 
was made, 

[Thus ends Jonathan's autobiography. It 
is not to be criticised with severity. A little 
egotism, and even a little garrulity, may be 
pardoned in an old man. He was not a man 
of education, or of refined taste, and he was 
now well stricken in years. A much fuller 
account of himself was given to a friend many 
years since, and it is much to be regretted that * 
it has been destroyed or lost 



4 



50 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS : — HIS DEATH. 

We now turn to the narrative of further par- 
ticulars, drawn from such sources as remained 
available. 

Jonathan's first efforts to do good were by 
assisting in holding prayer meetings in the 
villages and hamlets surrounding Halifax. 
He would then, in company with a few 
young men like-minded, visit Skircoat Green, 
Greetland, Stainland, Elland, Southowram, 
Clayton-Heights, Blackmires, Thornton, II- 
lingworth, Ovenden, Sowerby, Luddenden, 
and, in short, all the villages within six or 
eight miles of Halifax. These were arduous 
labours, and not altogether free from serious 
annoyances, opposition, and persecution. 
These good men were often assailed with 
harmless ridicule and rough words ; and not 
unfrequently with snow-balls, rotten eggs, 
and stones. But nothing daunted, they found 
their work its own reward ; and the wintry 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



51 



storm and the scorching summer's sun saw 
Jonathan travelling over hills, and exploring 
valleys, calling the poor cottagers together, 
who lived far from any place of worship, and 
who could not call the sabbath a delight, giv- 
ing them a word of exhortation, and then 
praying with and for them. It is not too 
much to say that no man within that neigh- 
bourhood has been in such labours more 
abundant ; and no doubt hundreds have been 
by his instrumentality saved from sin, and 
brought to God. 

He would sometimes go out to hold a 
prayer meeting, and give a word of exhorta- 
tion, at some neighbouring village at six 
o'clock, and then return to hold another such 
meeting in the town at eight ; and at other 
times he would set off at an early hour on 
the sabbath morning on a longer round, and 
return in the evening, delighted with the 
work, but weary in the service. Although 
prayer meetings and the preaching of the 
word are now, as means of grace, so greatly 
multiplied, that they are less valued ; yet the 



52 



JONATHAN SAVILLE* 



example of self-denying labour in Jonathan 
Saville, and other early Methodists, is a 
standing reproof of those who make no efforts 
for the salvation of souls ; and it ought to pro- 
voke the zeal of many. 

Those who have only known Jonathan 
during his years of decrepitude, will be sur- 
prised to learn that at one time he could walk 
with ease twenty-five and thirty miles during 
the day ; and he has been known to walk even 
forty miles in one day. And what is more 
remarkable, he has sometimes given chase 
to a mischievous, hale young man, up and 
down some of the steeps in the immediate 
neighbourhood of his own house, putting 
him to his utmost efforts to escape : but he 
could never ride on horseback ; so that when 
he journeyed to distant places he was gene- 
rally obliged to walk. 

After filling the office of prayer leader four- 
teen years, Jonathan was appointed leader 
of a class, — a charge which he entered upon 
with fear and trembling, and not without a 
renewed act of self-dedication. In this office 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



53 



he was made very useful to the church of 
Christ. He was well qualified to speak unto 
the children of Israel that they should go 
forward ; always cheerful, always encou- 
raging. He generally said but little to the 
members of his class ; but his remarks were 
pertinent to the state of their experience. 
He was particularly happy in the use of fami- 
liar illustrations in speaking to them ; and 
when one had been complaining of perplex- 
ity and trouble from wandering thoughts, he 
said, "You cannot prevent the birds from 
flying over your head, but you need not let 
them build in it." To another, who feared 
dying, "If God were to give you dying grace 
now, it would be a burden to you. He will 
give you living grace now, and dying grace 
when you want it." 

He was always careful to conclude his 
class meeting within the hour, partly lest 
the engagement should disturb family order, 
and partly because he believed long meet- 
ings are almost always dull and less profit- 
able. And, indeed, we shall generally find 



54 JONATHAN SAVILLE. 

that short and lively class meetings are best 
attended, and most quickly increase in num- 
bers ; while those that are long and dry de- 
crease ; the loss by deaths and removals not 
being made up by additions out of the world. 
It was not so with Jonathan : his class was 
divided some six or seven times ; and as 
many offshoots, it is believed, still exist in 
Halifax. At one period it was not uncom- 
mon for the preacher, quarter after quarter, 
to give from five to ten, and even as many as 
fifteen, notes of admission to new members in 
his class. 

In the year 1803 he was called to the office 
of local preacher, although then in the forty- 
third year of his age. He was exceedingly 
unwilling to enter upon such an important 
work, from a deep sense of his insufficiency 
in respect of grace, ability, and attain- 
ments ; but his objections were overruled by 
the church. When he became convinced 
that this was the will of God concerning 
him, he rather sought than shunned oppor- 
tunities to preach the word. In his reading 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



55 



he confined himself chiefly to the standard 
writers of his own connection ; but he does 
not appear to have read largely; and his 
mind was not remarkably well furnished 
with theology, His preaching was not doc- 
trinal, nor expository, but chiefly historical ; 
and consisted principally of exhibitions of 
human depravity drawn from experience and 
observation, and a strong enforcement of the 
necessity of repentance, and of faith in Christ. 

These topics were stated with uncommon 
clearness and force, and illustrated in such a 
natural and familiar manner, that none could 
misunderstand him. He was often exceed- 
ingly happy in his quotations from the Scrip- 
tures ; producing the most apt and impres- 
sive, and sometimes giving them such a new 
and singular application as evinced great 
ingenuity and skill. But his great force lay 
in his manifest honesty of heart, — his simple 
endeavour to do the people good, by first en- 
gaging and engrossing them wholly to him- 
self and his subject, and then earnestly 
pressing home the most important truths 



56 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



■upon their consciences. Sometimes he did 
this with so much zeal and vehemence, that 
it was almost impossible to withstand his 
earnestness. One instance will illustrate 
this : — Once when at Thornton he was on 
his favourite topic, pressing home the neces- 
sity of repentance with such vehemence, 
that his exertions caused a sudden and vio- 
lent bleeding from the nose. He imme- 
diately exclaimed, "Sinners! this blood shall 
witness against you at the last day, if you 
do not repent !" and he then redoubled his 
efforts, and made a most effective application 
of his subject. 

From the first, Jonathan was an exceed- 
ingly popular preacher. He was the man 
of the people. He was a little man ; and 
everybody knew the cause of his diminutive- 
ness. There was a sparkling, pleasant wit 
about him, which made everybody feel that 
he was happy * and it tended to enkindle 
and diffuse cheerfulness around him. He 
thought with the many ; and he always made 
the service of God appear reasonable by the 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



57 



cheerfulness of his own spirit, and by the 
felicity of his illustrations. These were ge- 
nerally in similies, or continued allegory ; 
and they always impress the multitude more 
than an elaborate figure. This he could not 
have managed, and he was too wise to at- 
tempt it. He knew the length of his line, 
and was content with it. He kept to those 
great subjects which ennoble all language, — 
kindle the sensation of sublimity in all minds, 
— make the foolish wise, and the weak strong. 
He had a valuable auxiliary in his voice, for 
it had great volume and force, and was clear 
and musical. In prayer, especially when he 
had waxed warm, he could be heard at a 
great distance, and above all other voices 
and sounds. Everybody knew him when 
afar off by this peculiarity. He had much 
action in preaching ; — indeed his preaching 
was too vociferous, and his action far too 
violent. Many of his sermons produced ex- 
traordinary impressions, and he was honour- 
ed in the conversion of many souls. His 
great aim was to produce conviction of sin ; 



58 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



and in this respect his preaching was similar 
in spirit, and in some respects in style, to the 
writings of Baxter. He often sought, in or- 
der to save sinners, by going out into the 
highways and hedges. Some of his out- 
door exercises were very striking ; one par- 
ticularly when he preached on a text from 
which Mr. Whitefield often preached with 
remarkable results: — "O earth, earth, earth, 
hear the word of the Lord !" The effects 
were electrical and extraordinary; and this 
was generally the case under that sermon. 
He had several remarkable discourses, to 
some of which he or the people gave quaint 
titles. The good effect of one was to send 
people to their wardrobes, to distribute their 
cast-off clothing among the poor, who are 
thankful to obtain garments which the more 
wealthy will no longer wear. His sermons 
on the " Vision of the Dry Bones," and on 
" Studying to be quiet, and to do our own 
business," and some others, will never be 
forgotten by those who heard them. 

Jonathan could not be deterred by the fear 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



59 



of consequences from doing his duty, but he 
had the boldness of a lion. During the dis- 
turbances which prevailed in the manufac- 
turing districts in 1812, many events occur- 
red calculated to disturb the peace of the 
church, and to try the faith and faithfulness 
of those who preached the word. On the 
occasion alluded to in his narrative, he faith- 
fully protested against the principles of dis- 
loyalty and unlawful organization, which 
tended to sap the foundations of society. 
He cleared himself of the blood of these sin- 
ners ; protesting against what was unlawful, 
and urging the people to peaceableness and 
godly quiet. There is reason to believe that 
mischief was imagined against him on this 
account ; for soon afterward a man entered 
into conversation with him not far from his 
own home, to whom he spoke with all plain- 
ness ; and just as he entered his own dwell- 
ing, a brick was maliciously thrown after 
him, which hit the door only, and thus his 
life was graciously preserved. 

Jonathan was greatly sought after "as a 



60 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



preacher for special occasions, particularly 
for Sunday-school anniversary sermons. He 
was often sent for to distant places, and 
sometimes to large towns, to assist in hold- 
ing missionary meetings. On the platform, 
as might be expected, he was not only ac- 
ceptable, but popular and effective : indeed, 
it is thought by many of his friends that he 
shone more on the platform than in the pulpit. 
His power of uttering extemporaneous as 
well as studied allegory ; his play of wit, the 
readiness of his replies, and the originality 
of many of his remarks, together with the 
obvious truth, that he was honest in the sa- 
cred cause, and happy in his work, gave a 
freshness, a charm, and a power to his 
speeches, which could not but make him 
popular. Some of his efforts were brilliant 
and worthy of men of greater name. He 
had a great readiness in seizing upon pass- 
ing incidents to illustrate his positions, or to 
heighten his impressions ; and a wonderful 
facility in working upon the passions of an 
audience. He once made a speech on a 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



61 



missionary occasion, in which he most touch- 
ingly described the sufferings of an orphan 
boy; and at length described the agony en- 
dured during the slow process of healing a 
fractured thigh ; and when the feelings of 
the auditory had been wound up to the high- 
est pitch, he produced the most extraordinary 
effect, by slapping his own disfigured limb, 
and crying out with vehemence, "And this 
is that broken thigh ! and I am that orphan 
boy !" He then, with great ingenuity, turned 
the whole flood-tide of feeling which he had 
raised into the channel of benevolence and 
practical pity for those whose sufferings are 
unmitigated by the mild influence and conso- 
lations of Christianity. 

Some of his favourite speeches, such as 
the Missionary Ship, the death and burial of 
Old Bigotry, the Oak Tree, the Mustard 
Tree, and some others, will not soon be for- 
gotten ; but for full effect they should have 
been heard from Jonathan's own lips : they 
would not bear to be retailed or smuggled. 
It is true it was sometimes attempted to 



62 JONATHAN SAVILLE. 

repeat them, with more or less exactness, 
and more or less honesty; but they were 
failures ; and none could furnish the spirit, 
and vivacity, and honest confidence, with 
which the original framer of such allegories 
could invest them. On one occasion, when 
some one had purloined a speech, and usurp- 
ed the function of burying Old Bigotry, after 
claiming his own, he said to the chairman, 
" And more than this, they have not buried 
him rightly : he will rise again after such a 
burial ; and if you please, sir, we will bury 
him over again." He then, with great ad- 
dress, gave the original reading of a speech 
which had suffered by passing through many 
hands ; and evidently enjoyed an honest sa- 
tisfaction in doing justice to himself, and in 
showing the value of such meetings in pro- 
moting brotherly and catholic love. 

This will be a fit occasion to introduce an 
outline, but we fear an imperfect one, of this 
speech. The late excellent Mr. Lloyd, while 
stationed in Halifax, and Mr. Barker, kindly 
bore Jonathan's expenses to London, that he 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



63 



might have an opportunity of attending some 
of the great meetings held there annually for 
the advocacy and support of Christian and 
benevolent enterprises; and the idea of " bu- 
rying Old Bigotry" appears to have suggested 
itself when attending the anniversary meet- 
ing of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 
We give the speech as delivered at a mis- 
sionary meeting in the West-Riding of York- 
shire, where a Calvinist and an Arminian 
were carrying on a warm controvers} 7 . 

The speaker who addressed the meeting 
next before him, had proposed a marriage 
between the Missionary and the Bible So- 
cieties. He got up, and said, " I forbid the 
banns ; they are too near akin." He after- 
ward proceeded : " Sir, we have had talk 
of a marriage on the platform ; what if we 
have a funeral too ? There is an old man, 
of whom we have all heard, who has lived to 
be a plague to all about him for now nearly 
six thousand years. It w r as he who tempted 
Cain to murder his brother Abel : he has 
been going on in the same way ever since 



84 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



This old wretch happened to be in London 
at the time the Bible Society was first insti- 
tuted. He went, you may be sure, to the 
meeting. Peeping in at the door, he asked 
a person standing there, ' What all those 
gentlemen on the platform were going to 
do V The answer was, ' Why, they are met 
to devise means of sending out the Bible, in 
all languages, to all parts of the earth where 
there is a human being to be found.' Then 
he asked, 'Who is that in the chair?' 'That 
is Lord Teignmouth.' 'And who are those 
on his right and left ?' ' Those are two of 
the princes royal.' ' And those in lawn- 
sleeves?' 'Are bishops; and all those dressed 
in black, with white cravats, are ministers of 
every sect and party.' Upon hearing all this, 
the old man turned himself round, and said, 
'What ! lords against me ! princes, bishops, 
and ministers of all denominations, against 
me ! Ah, then, it's all over with me !' He 
reared his back against the wall, and began 
pecking and coughing ; exhibiting, in short, 
all the symptoms of asthma. ' Alas, alas !' 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



65 



said he, after a pause 5 and one or two gasps 
for a mouthful of breath, c so long as I had 
bishops and princes on my side I could do 
well. I must off to my old and best friend, 
the pope, and try and keep him from joining 
them in this mad scheme. If he forsake me, 
I must go to the poorhouse : I am ruined for 
ever !' " Here he called out to the meeting, 
" Are there any doctors here ?" Somebody 
said, "Yes." "Well, then," said he, "what- 
ever you do, do not recommend a sea voyage 
to the old man : for if you do, and he gets 
once on shipboard, he will never stop till he 
gets to the East and West Indies ; and then 
we shall have nothing but disturbances among 
the missionaries. He will take with him all 
their differences, which they left behind, in 
his pockets ; and when he gets there he will 
distribute them privately at every mission- 
ary's door. At present they are all quiet 
and friendly : so mind now, and keep him 
from going abroad to recruit. If you are 
called in, give him plenty of mercury, and 
get rid of him. I can tell when he used to 
5 



66 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



be so impudent, that be would sit nowhere 
but at the back of the preacher, in the pulpit. 
And if it was an Arminian that was preach- 
ing, he would whisper in his ear, * Now give 
old John Calvin a knock/ And then he would 
off to a Calvinist pulpit, and say, ' Give old 
Arminius a knock.' And whenever two 
ministers of the gospel are engaging in con- 
troversy, he runs directly to hell's mouth, 
and calls out that two ministers are fighting 
a duel. Whereupon, hell rings again with 
shouts, and they say to him, ' Well done ! 
keep them at it : supply them well with gall. 
We know while they are at that work they 
will compose no more gospel sermons.' How- 
ever, the blow which Old Bigotry received 
in London has all but killed him. He grows 
worse and worse ; and they won't suffer him 
now to go further into the chapel than just in 
at the door ; for he coughs and spits so, that 
the dog-whipper has orders to give him a 

good rap on his shins if he comes further. 

HeHl die; and as he is such an old gentle- 
man, and has made such a great stir in the 



JONATHAN SAVILLSJ. 



67 



world, we must even give him a decent fune- 
ral : and as he has plagued all sects and par- 
ties, it is but fair that all should have a share 
in the cost of his funeral. They call the 
Methodists, in general, a clumsy sort of folk ; 
so they shall have the making of the coffin : 
I care not how many inches thick. The Mo- 
ravians shall make his shroud, as they are 
good needle folks ; and I have no doubt they 
will make it very nice !" There were some 
young students on the platform, and he turned 
round to them, and said, " Have you any con- 
fectioners among you Independents ?" They 
said, " Yes." " Well, then, you shall find 
biscuits for those who come to the funeral." 
There was also an old Baptist minister there; 
and turning pleasantly to him, he said, " And 
the Baptists shall furnish drink, as they love 
to deal in wet. And as Church and State 
are linked together, the Church can afford 
gloves and scarfs. But who is to dig his 
grave ? I have somebody in my eye for that 
too. The Methodists shall not ; for they are 
such a friendly, communicative set, that they 



68 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



will be telling all about it ; and then the resur- 
rection-men will come and take him up again. 
If the Church had it to do, they would per- 
haps be putting up a monument over him. 
The Quakers shall dig the grave ; for they 
can keep a secret. They shall dig it twenty 
yards deep. I have no ill design in giving 
this hard work to them. I owe it to the kind- 
ness of a Quaker that I ever got on my feet 
after my thigh was broken. But they will 
not put a gravestone over him ; and if any 
one asks them, 'Will you, pray, tell me 
where you have buried Old Bigotry?' the 
Quaker will reply, 'I suppose, friend, thou 
wants a grave by him V The pope and three 
of his cardinals shall be foul-lookers, (mutes ;) 
and they will look foul enough, for they have 
had the greatest interest in him. And the 
Primitive Methodists shall go to collect all 
the broken bottles they can find, break them 
small, and mix them with mortar, and so fill 
up his grave ; and let them that like, scratch 
him out? 

Let it only be imagined that this outline 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



69 



was filled up by the man who could extem- 
porize in this kind, — a man of insignificant 
size, and deformed, from whom little was 
expected, but who when excited by his sub- 
ject, and by a Yorkshire audience, could suit 
the action to the word, and quickly make the 
people smile or weep, — and no one will be 
surprised that he was popular. He was often 
requested to give this speech in the parlour ; 
and he readily consented for the sake of the 
private collection for the missions for which 
he always stipulated before he began. 

On one occasion he was sent for to assist 
at some missionary meetings ; and a clergy- 
man who spoke before him was severely con- 
demning anything more cheerful than became 
the gravity of the pulpit, forgetful of the dif- 
ference between the occasions and circum- 
stances ; and spoke strongly on the necessity 
of using great plainness of speech ; observing, 
"We must come down to the people." Jona- 
than said, he had often felt that he would have 
been better qualified for his work had he had 
a better education ; but he now thought that 



70 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



he had an advantage which he had not before 
so clearly perceived : he had not to " come 
down," for he could speak in no other than 
plain language. He then followed his bent 
as to style of speaking, and the clergy- 
man was the first to lose his gravity, which 
indeed he could not recover during the re- 
mainder of the meeting. 

The great reason, after all, of Jonathan 
Saville's popularity, was his zeal and his use- 
fulness. He was never idle, but was always 
"plotting where, and when, and how his 
Master's business should be done." We 
have seen how he laboured as a prayer 
leader, and how successful he was as a class 
leader. In preaching to sinners he was also 
honoured with great usefulness, especially 
during the period between 1816 and 1826. 
Frequently two and three persons were awak- 
ened under an afternoon sermon. He had 
great power in prayer, and was eminently 
a pleader with God ; but he looked for suc- 
cess in preaching the Word. He honoured 
God by depending on his promise ; and God 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



71 



honoured him by the demonstration and power 
of his Spirit. 

His zeal was not restricted to one kind or 
department of labour. For a period he met 
a class of young people, — a sort of select 
class, — whom he instructed, and engaged to 
commit to memory, psalms, hymns, and por- 
tions of the Catechism. At one time he and 
two or three others regularly fetched from 
the workhouse to the chapel, and carried 
back again, an infirm, bed-ridden man, who 
could not in any other way hear a sermon. 
It is supposed that he visited ten times as 
many sick persons as any of his brethren, and 
that generally at the particular request of the 
afflicted. 

Jonathan was very successful in reproving 
sin. His reproofs were so obviously admi- 
nistered in kindness, and with such honesty 
and simplicity, that none were disposed to 
take offence. It is a remarkable fact, that 
seldom was any drunkard known to abuse 
Jonathan, or to treat him with incivility. On 
the contrary, they would often try to put on 



72 



JONATHAN SAVXLLE, 



a decent behaviour, because " little Jonathan 
was coming." Several instances might be 
adduced wherein his reproof of drunken per- 
sons was attended with the best effects. One 
man was going with his horse and cart along 
Clare Hall Road, and the horse would call 
at the accustomed public houses. The man 
was drunk : he spoke to Jonathan, who re- 
plied in a few words ; but although he was 
in that state, the words sunk deep in his 
heart. He could not sleep that night ; and 
when he became sober he was still more 
distressed ; nor did he find any peace until 
he fled to Christ. Thus Jonathan's reproof 
became the means of the man's conversion. 

On another occasion some young men 
were assembled, probably partly intoxicated, 
and on seeing Jonathan, one said, " Here's 
little Jonathan coming ; let us have some 
fun with him!" "Yes," said another, "let 
us make him pray." When he came up to 
them, after some jocularity, they said, "Jona- 
than, we should like to hear you pray !" The 
little man instantly took off his hat, knelt 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



73 



down by the road-side, and prayed most so- 
lemnly and fervently for them. But they 
were disappointed in their purpose : they 
found no sport, but became as serious as the 
grave. When he rose from his knees, they 
immediately collected together all their pence, 
amounting to upward of two shillings, which 
they absolutely insisted he should take; and 
he was constrained to do so. 

He was once going up Southowram Bank, 
to preach at some village, when he was 
rudely assailed by a drunken man, who, 
together with other crooked names, called 
him "a little crooked devil," and instantly 
knocked him down. Jonathan rose quickly, 
and although somewhat hurt, with great calm- 
ness and quickness said, "The God that 
made me crooked has made thee straight, 
however !" and he then gave him such a lec- 
ture on his sins as he had never heard before. 
The reproof sunk deep even into the drunk- 
ard's heart. Some years afterward, when 
Jonathan had been preaching, (we think it 
was at Hull,) a stranger seized him with a 



74 



JONATHAN SAVILLE* 



vigorous grasp, and said with warm blunt- 
ness, "Bless God that ever I knocked thee 
down, Jonathan /" Jonathan was amazed, 
and well might be. He had forgiven and 
forgotten the offence. The man reminded 
him of the above circumstance, and added, 
that his reproof was the means of his begin- 
ning to seek God, and led to his conversion. 
" The words of the wise are as goads, and 
as nails fastened by the masters of assem- 
blies." Who will refuse to warn even the 
drunkard, from the unbelieving fear that it 
will be lost upon him ? " Cast thy bread 
upon the waters : for thou shalt find it after 
many days." 

A friend was one day walking with Jona- 
than to Huddersfield, and on passing a place 
called Birch-in-Cliff, Jonathan pointed out to 
him the spot where once stood a house in 
which an old cockfighter lived. He used to 
feed and train game-cocks for public exhibi- 
tions, which usually took place on Sundays, 
the cock-pit being most frequented on those 
days. One Sunday Jonathan had to preach 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



75 



at Lindley, and on his way there had to pass 
this house. He heard the cocks crowing ; 
and reflecting, no doubt, as he approached 
the place, on the wicked scenes for which it 
was so notorious, he felt his spirit stirred 
within him at this profanation of the sabbath, 
and straightway made known his complaint 
to the Lord, fervently beseeching him that 
he would in some way interpose to end these 
disgraceful practices. Within a few days 
the man sickened and died ; the house was 
deserted, and fell into ruins; and these cruel 
and profane sports were entirely banished 
from the neighbourhood. 

Jonathan was sure in his visits to engage 
the attention and affection of children, by- 
familiar Scriptural allusions and stories ; and 
when he prayed with families, the children 
were always earnestly and with great affec- 
tion remembered at the throne of grace. 
His prayers on their account were long 
afterward remembered with gratitude. The 
late Rev. Henry Heap, vicar of Bradford, 
has been often heard to express his obliga- 



76 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



tions to him, under God, for early religious 
impressions produced by his conversations 
and prayers during his visits to his father's 
house. When at different towns in the 
neighbourhood of Halifax, he has often had 
invitations to the houses of persons unknown 
to him, and unconnected with his section of 
the church, but who remembered his visits 
to their parents when they were children. 
Many love his memory for this reason ; and 
not a few have been brought under the minis- 
try of the word, entirely by the influence of 
the kindness and religious affection manifested 
at a period when children are too frequently 
left unnoticed. 

One feature of character which was strong 
in him should not pass without notice : — we 
refer to his attachment to Wesleyan Method- 
ism, as one among the other forms of church 
polity which God has owned and honoured 
with great success. He thought he was 
warranted by Christ himself to judge of the 
tree by its fruit. Methodism had been the 
means of his own conversion and salvation ; 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



77 



and he, therefore, judged that they who had 
instrumentally begotten him again by Christ 
Jesus, must be true ministers of Christ; and 
the system, however much it may have been 
formed by prudential arrangements and pro- 
vidential circumstances, yet cannot be un- 
scriptural in its principles, nor its blessings 
and fruits be " uncovenanted" mercies. His 
conviction that Methodism is a work of God, 
made him steadfast in his adherence to it as 
a system of means and discipline; and during 
all the troubles which his long experience 
had given him to witness, he was consistent, 
firm, and faithful. During the latter part of 
the last century he saw much strife and divi- 
sion, and had many temptations to depart 
from the fold he had chosen. He never hesi- 
tated or wavered. Perhaps his opponents, 
and some of his personal friends who had 
no very comprehensive views, or very settled 
principles, or serious concern about such 
matters, might think him too warm in his 
attachments. But without justifying every 
act or expression, or nicely judging him, all 



78 



Jonathan savilL£. 



must agree that he was honest, straightfor- 
ward, zealous, and consistent ; that his pro- 
vocations were great ; and that the wrongs 
which were done to the system, and to the 
party he had espoused, he might justly resent 
with honest and warm indignation, when he 
had no personal interest to serve. He endured 
much, in grief and in provocation, in those 
days of strife ; but he outlived the war, and 
had a long season of peace, during which he 
rejoiced to see his beloved connection flourish 
like a green bay tree. 

His convictions on these subjects gave him 
firmness and stability ; and he was thus saved 
from following the example of those who 
continually leave one church for another, 
until the life and power of godliness are lost. 
The man who makes "the kingdom of God" 
to consist in " meat and drink," is not really 
united to the church of Christ. His convic- 
tions, and his enjoyment of the power of 
religion, not only kept Jonathan always in 
one section of the church of Christ, but made 
him altogether of that church. He knew 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



79 



that it was religion under the name of Me- 
thodism that had made him all he was ; and 
in grateful return he gave himself wholly to 
Methodism. He had no lingering fondness 
for either popularity or power elsewhere, so 
as to have a divided heart ; and while he 
could admit that, like all other institutions 
where human agency is required, Method- 
ism must, both in theory and in practice, 
betray human infirmity ; yet he was no 
croaker He did not live upon decay and 
corruption. It was no pleasure to him to 
find out flaws and blemishes : he did not 
watch for men's halting. He knew that it 
was as much the work of zeal to remove 
hinderances, to cover faults, and to work for 
the supply of deficiencies, as to go forth with 
the sound of the trumpet to war. He always 
endeavoured to look at the bright side of 
things ; and he had no sympathy with those 
who assume their own superiority because 
they can see the errors or defects of others, 
while they shut their eyes to the fact, that 
they most effectually hinder the prosperity 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



of that work for which they profess to have 
superior zeal. 

It may be allowed that, in his latter years, 
he was occasionally known to be a little que- 
rulous and dissatisfied about personal mat- 
ters; but there is good reason to believe that 
even this was the result of the infirmities of 
old age, worked upon by some who prefer- 
red to find fault with others, rather than to 
minister to his temporal comfort and godly 
edification. Left to himself, and not wrought 
upon by the designing or thoughtless, he was 
generally disposed to be grateful and happy; 
but it is in the power of almost any child in 
understanding to croak, and to make an old 
man croak too. 

Jonathan Saville was permitted to attain 
to a great age; but at length "the time drew 
nigh that Israel must die." Infirmities came 
upon him, and afflictions also ; especially a 
painful tumour on the back of his left hand, 
upon which he had an operation performed. 
But the knife was not effectual ; and during 
the last few months of his life he suffered 



JONATHAN SAVILLE, 



81 



much from its increase, and its influence 
upon his general health. The period of his 
confinement to his house and bed was short ; 
and during that time he was often visited by 
ministers and friends, who ministered to his 
temporal wants as he had need. He always 
expressed his confident hope of heaven. In 
a conversation had with him a few days be- 
fore his death, the writer took some pains to 
ascertain that Jonathan rested his hopes ex- 
clusively upon the atonement of Christ, and 
not in any degree upon his past services, or 
his standing or usefulness in the church ; and 
the result was highly satisfactory. He re- 
nounced all but Christ ; and in the language 
of the dying Wesley exclaimed, 

" I the chief of sinners am, 
But Jesus died for me." 

On other occasions he expressed the same 
confidence of hope. To a friend, who said, 
" Jonathan, tell me, do you now feel the gos- 
pel, which you have so long preached to 
others, to be a cunningly-devised fable?" 
he replied, with great earnestness, "No, 
6 



82 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



and I never shall. It is true; it is a rock." 
One morning, when a kind friend who had sat 
up with him was departing, she said, "I fear 
your bed is not very comfortable." "O!" 
he replied, " it is a great deal better than I 
deserve." "Well, Jonathan, you will soon 
have done with your sufferings, and a bright 
crown awaits you." " Yes," he replied, "if 
I be faithful." 

The deathbed of our departed brother could 
not be expected to furnish any peculiar testi- 
mony to the power of divine grace. The de- 
cay of his bodily and mental powers through 
extreme old age and infirmity, and the effect 
of medicine given to allay the pain he suffered 
from the tumour on his hand, almost pre- 
vented his. speaking during the last few days 
of his life : but increasing thankfulness for 
his temporal and spiritual mercies, and a 
more simple dependance upon the blood of 
atonement, were pleasing indications of a 
growing meetness for heaven. At length he 
calmly fell asleep in Jesus, on Thursday, May 
26th, 1842, aged eighty- three years. 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



83 



Our late brother's funeral was attended by 
a large concourse of people, including mem- 
bers of other churches, who willingly gave 
testimony to his worth. His remains were 
interred in the chapel-yard, in the grave upon 
which he had so often stood, contemplating 
the spoils of death in the removal of some 
members of his family. Since then that 
grave has received the mortal remains of his 
widow, who, after many years of faithful con- 
jugal love and service, has now rejoined her 
partner in an indissoluble friendship. 

Jonathan's funeral sermon was preached 
by the late deeply-lamented Rev. Thomas 
Galland, M. A., to a crowded congregation, 
on the Monday evening after the interment. 
The sermon — founded on Phil, i, 23, "For 
I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire 
to depart, and to be with Christ ; which is 
far better" — was in Mr. Galland's peculiar 
style, and showed how much his thoughts 
and heart were in heaven ; and sweetly indi- 
cated that growing ripeness of faith and love 
which the Lord has since approved by gather- 



84 



JONATHAN SAVILLEV 



ing him into the heavenly garner. The 
kindness and generosity of Mr. Galland to 
the poorer members of his flock is noto- 
rious ; and to Jonathan it was continued to 
the close of life, although Mr. G„ had been 
six years absent from the circuit; and at 
Jonathan's death it was kindly continued to 
the widow. They have all now met in that 
world where friendships are resumed, and 
are no more restricted by conventional or 
local difficulties ; where gratitude and bro- 
therly love pervade the atmosphere ; and the 
calmness of contemplation is combined with 
the fervours of seraphic devotion. 

It ought to be recorded, that for thirteen 
years the Wesleyans in Halifax (who have 
always had a good report for hospitality and 
kindness, and especially to their own poor) 
amply provided for the necessities of brother 
Saville, and ministered to his comfort. An 
annual subscription was made in order to 
give him a weekly allowance ; the trustees 
allowed him a house free of rent; and he 
had standing and cordial invitations from a 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



85 



number of friends, who gave him a cheerful 
welcome and all that was needful to the 
comfort of his outward man. His widow 
was equally well cared for. All this was 
done from principle as much as from kind- 
ness ; for they remembered the large amount 
of gratuitous and self-denying services which 
Jonathan had rendered to the cause of truth 
and religion so long as he was able to work 
for God ; and the Halifax Methodists practi- 
cally acknowledge and adopt the principle 
of caring and providing for the worn-out 
servants of God. Would that this obligation 
were as well universally acknowledged ; that 
those ministers who have expended their 
strength in the service of the church, might 
not in their old age be dependant on casual 
charity, or be obliged to plead for ordinary 
comforts, and sometimes a bare support, as 
those who have no just claim upon the 
church. A faithful servant in a commercial 
house, or even an old horse, or the pet ani- 
mals of a misanthropic spinster, have often 
the advantage, in respect of provision for old 



86 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



age, of a faithful minister of Christ, to whom 
hundreds in the church, under God, owe their 
conversion, and, as a result, their prosperity 
in the world. 

We have now considered the character of 
one who, having " fulfilled his course," has 
" fallen asleep." We have seen the power 
of religion as a support in adversity, and as 
a means of ennobling the human mind, and 
of advancing man in the scale of intelligence, 
of society, and of influence. What would 
Jonathan Saville have been but for religion ? 
Most likely, a pleasant, clever mischief- 
maker. But the vigour of his mind was de- 
voted to God. He entered a school where 
character, decision, devotedness, zeal, talents 
of every kind find room for exercise, and are 
all improved and directed to the highest ends. 
He who otherwise would have gained a no- 
torious infamy, became conspicuous in the 
church of God, and had numerous opportu- 
nities of sowing that seed of the kingdom 
which is sure to yield a glorious harvest in 
eternity. Jonathan made a figure among the 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



87 



Methodists in Yorkshire twenty or thirty 
years ago; and his Christian cheerfulness, 
his wit, his natural oratory, combined with 
his diminutiveness of stature, his zeal, and, 
above all, the assured tokens of his Master's 
presence, in the pulpit, on the platform, 
and in the social circle, gained him a sound, 
lasting, and useful popularity. He was the 
property, as he was the creature, of Method- 
ism. That religious system found him in 
the midst of his sins and pollutions, and was 
the means of his purification ; and the gift 
of grace by Jesus Christ quickened his intel- 
lectual powers into higher life, gave them a 
right direction, and sanctified them to holy 
uses. The Wesleyan ministry has been ho- 
noured of God in this, and in scores and 
hundreds of similar instances, in exhibiting 
the power of the gospel ; and to them may 
be applied generally the beautiful language 
of their own ever-to-be-lamented Richard 
Watson, first applied to the West Indian 
missionaries : — " They have dived into that 
mine from which, we were often told, no 



88 JONATHAN SAVILLE. 

valuable ore or precious stone could be ex- 
tracted ; and they have brought up the gem 
of an immortal spirit, flashing with the light 
of intellect, and glowing with the hues of 
Christian graces." Could philosophy have 
claimed the honour of having brought Jona- 
than Saville out of the mine, of giving him 
an intellectual polish, and of casting upon 
him the light which he so vividly reflected 
upon others, she would indeed have vaunted 
herself. But he could truly and humbly say, 
"Thy gentleness hath made me great. And 
they glorified God in me." 

Who can estimate the value of those labours 
which such a man has bestowed upon the 
world, while for so many years pursuing the 
even tenor of his way? Without such influ- 
ences and labours, the blessed results of reli- 
gion, all other efforts in the way of education, 
philanthropy, or legislation, would be vain 
and abortive. Jonathan Saville (and he was 
the representative of a host of honoured la- 
bourers in the vineyard of the Lord) dealt 
with men's consciences ; his business was 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



89 



with the heart ; he wielded the only instru- 
ment which could influence the whole man 
and the whole life ; and by preaching the 
doctrines of a new birth, and salvation from 
sin to holiness, he became the means of a 
greater change than law can effect, and of 
greater good tfen the mere philanthropist 
ever aims at. This class of men depend 
upon " having a good report of them that 
are without;" upon the simplicity of their 
statement of truths of which they are the 
happy living witnesses and illustration ; and 
upon that influence and power of the Holy 
Ghost which alone can render their labours 
successful. They deserve the respect and 
esteem of the church of God ; and especially 
have a large claim on the sympathy, the gra- 
titude, and the prayers of the entire Wes- 
leyan connection. And if this little volume 
shall be the means of stimulating such " bre- 
thren beloved" to more diligent efforts for 
self-improvement, and more strenuous and 
faithful services in the cause of Christ, none 
will more abundantly rejoice in their success 



90 



JONATHAN SAVILLE. 



than the present writer. There is need that 
all should labour with all their might in the 
great work of evangelizing the world : and 
"they that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament; and they that turn 
many to righteousness, as the stars for ever 
and ever." * 



THE END. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 



I 



